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Development by Peter and Alexander Thorn, 1868–74

In 1855, when the 2nd Earl of Listowel sold all the houses
and stables recently built on his estate, their reversionary
value was estimated at £17,000 per annum, and it was said
that Princes Gate had become 'equally valuable' with Park
Lane. But, the acknowledged 'Westward movement of
Noble and Wealthy Families' notwithstanding, no further
effort was made towards development on the Kingston
House estate for some years. (fn. 2)

In the 1860s the 3rd Earl, who had succeeded his father
in 1856, began taking steps towards enfranchising the two
remaining copyhold portions of the estate — an essential
prerequisite for development. These comprised the site of
Kingston House itself and its garden, and, much greater in
extent, the area south of the garden, with the slip connecting it to the Kensington road. Though all this ground was
copyhold, the larger piece was only held by the earl as a
sub-tenant.

In February 1867 the earl secured freehold ownership of
both areas and arrangements were made for development
on the southern part of the former leasehold ground.
Between 1868 and 1874 thirty-four large houses were built
there, forming three sides of a new square (Nos 1–35
Ennismore Gardens), and stabling and coach-houses in
Ennismore Gardens Mews (fig. 64, Plate 84).

The builders and developers here were the Thorn
brothers, Peter and Alexander, who had set up in business
about 1860 as contractors, stone merchants and asphalt
manufacturers, with premises at Cremorne Wharf in what
is now Lots Road, Chelsea. Their most important commission was the new Blackfriars Bridge, built in 1864–9, under
the supervision of the civil engineer Joseph Cubitt, to
replace Robert Mylne's bridge of 1760–9. Peter Thorn
died in 1871, while Ennismore Gardens was still in
progress, and the development was completed by his
brother. (fn. 3) Under Alexander Thorn's direction, the firm
survived a period of insolvency in 1875, brought on by losses and difficulties in connection with the Blackfriars
Bridge contract, but following a second failure in 1886,
caused by the firm's inability to sell its houses, the business
seems to have come to an end. (fn. 4)

Chronology of development

By August 1867 a development plan had been drawn up for
the site opposite Princes Terrace (the present-day Nos
39–59 Ennismore Gardens). This site comprised the
greater, southern, part of the field added to the estate in
1793 by Charles Pierrepont. By October, the Thorns were
in negotiation for its development on lease. (fn. 5)

In the background, however, was John Elger, the developer of Princes Gate and Princes Terrace, now no longer a
speculative builder but a man of social standing and, since
the mid-1850s, the freeholder of much of Princes Terrace.
There had apparently been some sort of understanding
between Elger and the 2nd Earl that any future development on the estate would be carried out without detriment
to the houses in Princes Terrace. (For the time being, these
looked out across the roadway to a wall bounding the large
'shrubbery' south of the main garden of Kingston House.)
During the late summer and autumn of 1867, therefore,
whilst touring abroad, Elger was in regular correspondence with Lord Listowel's surveyor, W. F. Meakin,
demanding that nothing be done by the Thorns until he
had seen the latest plans. (fn. 6)

Several were drawn up. One, with houses arranged in
pairs and small groups in a U-shaped formation — open to
the east — around a central garden, and a mews along the
south side of the site, was apparently acceptable to both
Elger and the Thorns but did not go ahead. Another, with
a double row of mews buildings along the east side of the
site, was objected to by Elger as deleterious to his own
property. (fn. 7) He was also highly critical of a proposal to build
a mews on the strip of ground east of Kingston House,
which, he warned, would inflict 'the greatest possible
injury' to the northern part of the estate. (fn. 8)

In March 1868 Elger at last declared himself happy with
the Thorns' latest scheme, in which he himself seems to
have had a hand. (fn. 9) The arrangement consisted of three
rows of large houses, comprising Ennismore Gardens,
grouped around a central garden, with Princes Terrace
occupying the east side of the resultant square (fig. 64).
Stabling and coach-houses were confined to the western
and southern edges of the ground, in Ennismore Gardens
Mews. (fn. 10) This layout was submitted to the Metropolitan
Board of Works in April 1868, attracting complaints from
some of the inhabitants of Princes Gardens, immediately to
the west, who were unhappy that a mews was planned so
near to their houses. (fn. 11)

Work began shortly afterwards with the imposing northern range, Nos 1–9 Ennismore Gardens. With the exception of No. 7, used by the Thorns as their site office, these
houses had been completed and sold by May 1871, and the
first occupants had moved in by 1872. Most were let with
stabling and a coach-house on the west side of the mews,
backing on to Princes Gardens. (fn. 12)

Work on the southern range, Nos 27–35, was well
advanced in the spring of 1871, and the houses had been
completed by March 1872. They were fully occupied by
1873. (fn. 13) The construction of the western terrace, Nos
10–25, was more protracted, the houses here being built in
batches between the autumn of 1871 and 1874. (fn. 14) In a modification of the plan, the site of the intended southernmost
house in the western range, and that of the roadway in
front, opening into the mews, were appropriated for additional stables; the number 26 was consequently never used.
Residents moved in gradually from 1873 and all the houses were occupied by 1879, except for Nos 21 and 24, which
apparently stayed empty until 1889–90. The remainder of
the mews was built up at about the same time as the south
and west ranges. (fn. 15) The Thorns also laid out the central
garden, enclosing it with Portland-stone piers and castiron railings.

Design and planning

It is not known who designed the Thorns' houses, which
were erected under the general supervision of W. F.
Meakin, as surveyor to Lord Listowel. (fn. 16)(fn. 1) The principal
elevations are of Italianate palazzo design, with channelled
masonry to the ground floor, pedimented first-floor windows and projecting Corinthian porches (Plate 85b). In
each terrace the three central houses are emphasized. Dispensing with the contemporary fashion for grouping
together the upper-floor windows of each house, introduced by H. L. Elmes at Princes Gate, the Thorns reverted to the traditional formula of evenly spaced windows.

Unusually for a Victorian speculation in London, the
houses are faced predominantly in stone, the result of circumstance as much as of architectural taste. The Thorns
had in hand a large quantity of Portland-stone ashlar
salvaged from Robert Mylne's Blackfriars Bridge of the
1760s, which they had acquired as the demolition contractors a few years earlier, and the building of these large
houses provided a fine opportunity to make use of it.
Reworking of the old stone was carried out at the Patent
Stone-working Machinery Company's premises adjoining
York Road station. Battersea, using Fothergill-Cooke &
Hunter's patent machinery. (fn. 18)

Only the free-standing northern range, the grandest,
and the first to be built and occupied, is entirely stonefaced (Plate 85a). The south and west ranges have just their
principal fronts in stone, some return walls being of yellow
malm bricks with stone dressings, the rear walls, adjoining
the mews, are of ordinary stocks. The freestone facings, so
distinctive in an area dominated by cream and white stucco, confer, in the words of Henry-Russell Hitchcock, 'a
solid dignity almost unique in London'. (fn. 19)

The area and balcony railings were supplied by Messrs
Benham, of Cadogan Works, Chelsea. (fn. 20)

The internal planning of the houses in the west and
south ranges conformed to the side-passage type, with two
main reception rooms off the entrance hall, and a smaller,
private room at the back, behind the stairs (fig. 75). An Lshaped double drawing-room took up most of the first
floor, with a short corridor leading to a rear boudoir. The
north-side houses had central staircases, and were planned
to present their best rooms to the south, with canted bays
overlooking the garden (fig. 76).

The interiors were finished to a high standard of decoration. Among the craftsmen known to have worked on them
was the carver and gilder Charles Moxon of Brook Street,
who had worked for the architect S. W. Daukes at Dudley
House, in Park Lane. (fn. 21) The plasterwork was by William
John Taylor of Church Street, Chelsea, and the papier
màchè decorations — presumably the ceiling 'centre flowers' and other enrichments specified for the principal
rooms — were provided by George Jackson & Sons. The
houses typically had Portland-stone staircases, skirtings
throughout moulded in Keene's Cement, and hall and
vestibule floors paved with Minton tiles laid in concrete.
Walls were generally painted, papered, or simply distempered, and woodwork, where not of hardwood, was likely to
be finished in walnut varnish-stain or painted graining. (fn. 22)

No. 1 was finished for its first resident. Sir Thomas
Edwards-Moss, 1st Bart, under the superintendence of
Alfred Waterhouse, with stone carving by Farmer & Brindley: a black-and-green marble chimney piece in the former
drawing-room on the first-floor could be a remnant of this
scheme. But the external embellishments proposed by
Waterhouse — an open portico projecting over the footpath
with a conservatory above, and then an overhanging baywindow on the front — all fell foul of the Metropolitan
Board of Works' habitual dislike of interruptions to the
building line. (fn. 23)

The high quality of the development was continued in
the design of the stabling and coach-houses in Ennismore
Gardens Mews. This is approached at its eastern entry
through a stone screen of Ionic columns, carrying a deep
entablature (Plate 79e). The buildings themselves, now
variously altered and colour-washed, were in their original
workaday form somewhat superior to the usual London
mews. Their characteristic features are segmental-arched
openings with prominent stone keys and sill courses (fig.
77, Plate 79d).

Occupants

As with the houses built under Elger's aegis some twenty
years earlier, the Thorns' development was aimed at people
of substantial wealth and connection. Again, there was a
hierarchy: as Lord Listowel's estate agent later put it, the
large houses of the northern range were intended for families 'of considerable affluence', while those of the western
and southern ranges were suited to 'gentlemen of good
position in the City', retired naval and army officers or
other 'persons of standing'. (fn. 24)

The following list includes all the first occupants of the
houses built by the Thorn brothers in Ennismore Gardens,
with their dates of residence, and some later occupants of
note.

Footnotes

1. An obituary of Charles Mayhew in 1877 listed Ennismore Gardens (and Princes Gate) among his works, but as he had retired in 1858
this almost certainly refers to his earlier houses in Ennismore Place and Princes Terrace (by then Nos 60–65 Ennismore Gardens).